Let me preface everything I'm about to say with this: I live in Manhattan and don't own a car; my daily driver is a CitiBike; my first car was a 1986 Ford Tempo (LX though!); and I spend way too much time in a Toyota Corolla or similar. I think you can tell where I'm going with this – there was basically no way I wasn't going to really, really enjoy driving (and photographing) the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta. This was a special weekend.

This week's Bring a Loupe will mix tool watches and elegant pieces, introducing you to some of the shining stars in each category. You will learn about one of the rarest military watches, the Tornek-Rayville, and discover the Cosmic from Omega as well as another triple date moonphase calendar from Universal Geneve. As usual, you should expect a fair number of beautiful chronographs, including the inonic Lange Datograph. And I will also mention some auction picks, from a very sexy Patek to a disturbingly fraudulent Omega. This is your Bring a Loupe for July 31, 2015.

The Mondaine Helvetica 1 Smart, first introduced last March, will now be released in a limited run of 1957 pieces to commemorate the birth of the Helvetica font. The Mondaine Helvetica Smart 1957will be available for pre-order starting July 29, 2015, only through Mondaine and the MoMA Store. Pre-ordering will end September 6, 2015, with permanent pieces entering the collection in the fall.

This is the summer of Andre Iguodala. The 31-year-old small forward for the Golden State Warriors is fresh off winning the MVP of this year's NBA finals. He's flying all over the world talking to artists and designers, presenting at the ESPY Awards, and becoming the king of New York Men's Fashion Week. In between it all, he sat down with us to talk about something that he holds very close to his heart – watches. This is your official HODINKEE Talking Watches with 2015 NBA Finals MVP Andre Iguodala.

The Longines Heritage Diver Chronograph is a sturdy, boldly styled combo diver's watch and chronograph that takes inspiration from a great classic model. Is it just another me-too heritage model, or a real blast from the past? Find out now on The Value Proposition.

HODINKEE crocodile straps are classic and elegant, created specifically with vintage dress watches in mind. They are slim and feature a soft lining that makes them comfortable to wear all day. There is no visible stitching, which preserves the clean look.

We asked the sartorial specialists at Freemans Sporting Club to design the most versatile sportcoat they could in 100% cashmere that would take us from red-eye flight to last-minute meeting with ease. Naturally, we added a hidden detail that watch enthusiasts will surely appreciate.

We've handled many loupes, from single-element lens models given away as free gifts, to high end loupes made by companies who specialize in optics. But when we first tried the Loupe System, we were completely blown away. We knew that we had to find a way to share this exceptional piece of optical engineering with our readers, while adding a touch of HODINKEE to the design to make it special.

If you’re anything like me, you mainly know Zenith for their El Primero Chronographs—and, most notably, for their El Primero Classic Chronograph that they released at Baselworld this year. What most people don’t know is that the 150-year-old manufacture released another batch of watches at Baselworld 2015; these pieces received less camera-time than others, but they’re all doing pretty interesting things—so it may be unfair that Zenith’s new Type 20 Pilot collection has been flying under the radar for this long.

There are several reasons that most people should never consider bidding on a watch that has the words “as is” or “for repair” in its description on eBay. In addition to making me have to overpay for adventurous restorations, pieces like this trade at such a small discount that it is rarely, if ever, a cost effective way to get your hands on a great vintage piece. There are exceptions, but for the most part, for collectors this is a losing gamble. This recent adventure very well illustrates this point and shows off awesome vintage Tudor in the process.

HODINKEE Executive Editor Benjamin Clymer and CEO Kevin Rose are delighted to announce that Mr. Frank Roda has joined the HODINKEE team as our new Director of Business Development. In his new role, Frank will oversee advertising and strategic partnerships.

This year at BaselWorld, Glashütte Original announced two new versions of the PanoMaticLunar, equipped with two new dial colors, and we just had our first chance to go hands on and close up with both watches. The two new versions are a steel PanoMaticLunar with a blue dial, and a rose gold model with a black dial.

Recently, HODINKEE reader Brandon Moore sent in a question: "I am wondering if the modern interpretations of the Breguet Natural Escapement (F.P. Journe Optimum, Kari Voutilainen Vingt-8, and Laurent Ferrier Automatic) have implemented specific solutions to the shortcomings of this design, namely the 'backlash' between the escape wheels, that Breguet experienced, and which caused him to ultimately abandon his design." This is a wonderful question, that deserves a careful response.

The Speedmaster Professional has, since its introduction in 1957, come in a truly bewildering variety of shapes, sizes, designations and limited editions, but one of the most polarizing models, when it appeared, was the X-33. The X-33 was introduced, in the first version, in 1998; it was the result of an Omega development program designed to (finally) produce a multifunction quartz watch that would be a completely modern successor to the mechanical Speedmaster Professional, and that would meet up to date NASA and ESA requirements for a flight-qualified timepiece. It was an ambitious project, which took place over the course of five years. Prototypes were flight-tested by both American and European astronauts; the first version of the X-33 would go on to be used by U.S., European, and Soviet astronauts on the Space Shuttle, the Mir Space Station, and other missions and it was used by military flight crews as well.

Hamilton's film What Makes a Fine Watch Fine opens with a shot of a transparent watch, its gear train seemingly floating in air. Today we are used to seeing brands advertise their new watches with computer rendered animations that show the mechanics of a watch movement in amazing clarity. The absolutely crazy thing about that film, and the watch that it shows, is that it was shot in 1947.

This month Panerai opened its first ever flagship store in the United States and I was lucky enough to go down to see the boutique for myself. The 2,200 square foot boutique is located in the heart of the Miami Design District – the innovative neighborhood being developed by Dacra, founded by entrepreneur Craig Robbins, and L Real Estate, a global real estate and development fund.

Design superstar Marc Newson's name is well known in horological circles – most significantly, for his co-founding of Ikepod. He's also done work for Jaeger LeCoultre (he created an Atmos clock in partnership with Apple's Jony Ive) and just last September, Newson joined Apple as part of Ive's design team. His interests have led him into many other fields than watches, of course – the iconic Lockheed Lounge is perhaps his most famous design, and one sold last April at Phillips for £2,434,500. However, he has also always had an interest in objects more relevant to use in daily life (his Streika cutlery collection for Alessi is an excellent example). And for Newson fans, one very enjoyable way to get your hands on his work without breaking the bank is to try out one of the Nautilus pens he designed for Hermès.